George Ferguson Column: I guess it's not crazy to love running

When it comes to sports and physical fitness, I might be a walking contradiction. With a heavy emphasis on the walking part.

On one hand, I play and coach tennis, and there are few sports that are as physically demanding as tennis is. On the other, I also play golf, a game that could be physically demanding, but thanks to a little-known Californian who invented the motorized golf cart back in 1951, golf isn’t physically challenging to me.

But back on the other hand, I have a new-found live of back-country hiking — in particular, trails in Glacier National Park — and I’m here to tell you, there are few things as physically demanding as that. Again on the other side, though, I don’t prescribe to jogging, running on a treadmill, or basically any type of running that doesn’t include a tennis racket in my hand, or trying to be first in line at a Famous Dave’s or the dinner buffet at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

Yes, when it comes to running for fun, or sport, it’s not my thing, and it never really has been.

Something else that is not my thing, and is becoming even less my thing is foul weather. I cherish the summer. I pretty much only want to play tennis, golf, hike, and basically be outdoors when it’s 80 degrees or warmer, when the wind is blowing less than 10 miles per hour, and when the sun is bright and high in the sky. And in Havre, that leaves me probably about two months out of the entire year to be outdoors.

And that’s why the cross country runners who compete for the Havre Blue Ponies need to be commended. Because at their annual Havre Invitational last Saturday, not only did they run, for the fun and sport of it, but they ran in weather that made me want to be on my couch watching college football and nowhere else.

Saturday was a brutal day in Havre — an announcement by mother nature that fall has certainly arrived. And the rain that dumped throughout Friday night, and continued through Saturday night, combined with a brisk wind and cold temperatures made the course and the races at MSU-Northern difficult — and that’ putting it mildly.

I watched more than one runner fall down on the wet, muddy course, yet get right back up and keep on going. I witnessed mud and muck being splashed all over these kids, and yet, they willingly trudged on. I watched as kids were soaked from head to toe, as they shivered from the cold, and as they sank in wet, soggy, muddy grass and leaves, a combination that looked almost impossible to run efficiently in.

But what I didn’t witness on Saturday was complaining or a lack of desire to be there, from the Blue Ponies, or anyone else there. Instead, what I saw were kids excited to race, excited to compete, and kids undeterred by the harsh elements.

Instead of witnessing kids surrender to the conditions, I saw them battle them, I saw them fight through them. I saw kids push themselves to the limit. And, as crazy as it sounds, I saw kids, Blue Ponies included, happy to do it. Happy to be running.

Yes, Saturday’s Havre Invitational was an impressive display of the human spirt. It was an impressive display of what it really means to love to do something. It was an impressive display of the willingness and desire to compete. And while I don’t run, as a coach and as someone who loves to compete, I can certainly appreciate all of those things.

While I’ve never understood the psyche of a runner — of one who wakes up in the morning and their first thought is to go for a run — choosing that over breakfast or television or just to stay in bad — after watching the Blue Ponies run in the Havre Invite on Saturday, I can certainly appreciate that mind set.

In fact, I was downright impressed by it. And while it won’t likely change my own psyche as it pertains to running just for the fun, or sport of it, there’s no doubt, after watching the Blue Pony runners do their thing last Saturday, in just awful conditions no less, I certainly have gained even more respect for all of you who like to do what the Blue Ponies did on Saturday.

So here’s to the Havre High cross country teams, and all of you runners out there, keep on trucking. It’s very impressive what all of you do.